Steve Kerr better watch out, because if he's not careful, Andre Iguodala or Draymond Green may steal his job.

In an innovative decision, Kerr had Iguodala, Green and other Warriors players coach the team during Golden State's 129-83 blowout win over the Suns Monday.

Advertisement

Green sat out the contest while Iguodala came off the bench and played 24 minutes.

Kerr said he made the decision a few days in advance in an attempt to better reach the team and encourage the Warriors to take more responsibility for their play following what Kerr perceived as a lack of focus over the last month.

"It had nothing to do with me being disrespectful. It had to do with me trying to reach my team. I have not reached them for the last month," Kerr said after the game, per The Athletic. "They're tired of my voice. I'm tired of my voice. It's been a long haul these last three years. I wasn't reaching them and we thought it was probably a good night to pull a trick out of the hat and do something different."

At first, it appeared the Warriors would once again deliver a disappointing performance, as Golden State trailed the Suns 20-15 with 3:22 left in the first quarter. Instead, the Warriors would outscore the Suns 114-63 the rest of the way.

Cameras caught Iguodala and Green leading the Warriors' huddles throughout the night, at times instructing the team on plays the Warriors coaching staff had prepared, while at other times drawing up plays of their own design.

Iguodala also ran the Warriors' shootaround prior to the game and JaVale McGee "was on the MacBook with film," according to The Athletic.

"It's the players' team. It's their team, and they have to take ownership of it. ...They determine their own fate, and I don't feel like we focused well at all the last month and it just seemed like the right thing to do," Kerr said. "I thought they communicated really well together and they drew up some nice plays. It was a good night for the guys."

Draymond Green (r.) calls a play from the bench during the second half of the Warriors’ win over the Suns. (Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP)

While Kerr said his decision to allow players to coach the team was meant with no disrespect, Suns foward Jared Dudley still took offense by the move.

"It shows a lack of respect for an opponent, and maybe right now, we don't deserve respect," Dudley told ESPN. "When you keep getting beat by 40, teams won't respect you. But it's up to us to change that."

Suns coach Jay Triano, on the other hand, told ESPN he "didn't have a problem" with Kerr allowing players to coach the team.